Not quite finished (p. 364) -- Cornell made art out of things he collected, & I am beginning to do the same. We talked about him briefly in April's collage class at LeMoyne Gallery (class ended Sunday). Kurt Schwitters is considered the essential modern collagist, with Cornell right behind. Reading this makes me aware of the definitions (does anybody care?): Collage is two-dimensional pasting & maybe layering of cut-out images, either drawn or found. Decoupage gets three-dimensional, things sticking out from the surface -- like seashells or forks. Assemblage uses things, unaltered. It is related to sculpture but it's not shaped by the artist in the way sculpture is. Assemblage shapes come from the connecting of things. (I'm writing this to clarify for myself.)
Cornell made collages & assemblages. He is famous for his boxes with things glued inside. A long time ago I was drawn to Cornell, when I saw pictures of his assemblages. I just liked them. But in my 20's I saw some of his boxes at the Chicago Art Institute. I found them gloomy. Now that I've read Cornell's life, I know why: he had a gloomy, airless personal life. He was in his own box, unable to break through & relate to people. He had an intense family life, boxed into a plain house in Queens with his handicapped brother & smothering mom. (Two sisters escaped through marriage. The father died early.) Cornell sold wool in the city, then quit to spend more time in the basement making things. I identify! But he kept going to New York to attend the Christian Science services & to pick up stuff from sidewalks. Again, I identify! At home in the middle of the night he took a cup of tea to the basement & cut things out & glued them down, juxtaposing the unlikely. After a time he presented them to galleries, & some were shown. He got really famous only after he was 60, shortly after both his mother & brother had died. By then he was annoyed by the demands of fame.
Cornell was a Surrealist when they were on top; then an Abstract-Expressionist. Then a Pop artist. All the while he was himself, morphing through his stuff. Now people call him a genius. I like that he wasn't a reckless egomaniac. But he was wrapped up in himself, often depressed & inhospitable ... and maybe just as often elated by the miraculous interconnection of things & the holiness of scraps.
2 comments:
Kathleen - I've just signed up to take April's Collage class that starts next week! (If there is still room)
I can't wait!
Hey, that's great! Yesterday I signed up for her Wed. night explorations in different media. Glad to know you also wait until the last minute.. Have fun!
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